Buying Chinese violins on EBay

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Has anyone here ever bought a violin from China via EBay?

The last time that I looked at Chinese-made violins (about 15 years ago), they had very bad reputations, and were of low quality.

I used to think that for a quality instrument you had to get a European one.

Now, I think that the situation has shifted. I just bought a bow from China, and it was stunning. Much better than any others that I own, for less than the cost of rehairing one of them.

I read an article which said that it is now very popular for Chinese children to study the violin. In the USA, we've dumbed down to the point where it is only the odd social pariah who plays the violin.

Also, Chinese violin makers seem to be starting to dominate the world market, with low cost, acceptable-to-high quality instruments.

There are quite a lot of Chinese selling their violins on EBay.

I was wondering whether anyone here has had any experience with them, and had any recommendations, one way or the other. Keeping in mind the low-quality Chinese violins of the past, and the amazing bow that I recently bought, there must be quite a lot of variability.

personally, i wouldn't buy ANY violin on ebay. you just never really know what you're going to get. and i'd say that most of the chinese violins being sold on ebay are not good instruments. there are some instruments coming out of china that are great student violins. however, there are still many chinese violins that are complete crap. over ebay, it's hard to distinguish whether the violin you are considering is a good one or not. if you're looking for a student beginner/intermediate violin, i'd say check out sharmusic(dot)com or stringworks(dot)com. both sites offer reasonably priced instruments that are pretty decent quality. the best option would be to find a violin shop near you that you can go to and actually try a bunch of violins out.

I used to think that, too, until I received a bow from this seller:

http://stores.ebay.com/natural-violins-bows?_rdc=1

I got the one labeled "New Advanced Pernambuco Bow 4/4 Ivory Frog", though auction for about $25 (including the shipping).

The shipping was super fast. The seller even gave me a second bow (brazilwood) for free.

And, the bow is the best I've ever owned. The free one is similar in quality to my others.

From what I've read elsewhere, people have bought some pretty nice Chinese violins from EBay, but they did need extra setup (new bridge, new strings, soundpost adjustment) once the violin arrived.

I've been bidding on some. I hope to buy one that looks great for not too much money. After my experience with the bow, I feel encouraged.

Well, I bought one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... K:MEWNX:IT

The bidding for violins labeled as "soloist" or "master" kept going higher than this one, so I decided to take a chance on this one.

The closest music shop that sells violins only has Palatinos for $150.

Another one, a bit further, has Yamahas starting at just over $300.

I'm in no position to spend thousands on a professional model. This one should (hopefully) be better than a Palatino at least.

how randomly specific. you're prob more likely to get replies on some kind of um violin forum?

i want a chinese violin

Yes, of course, but there must be some autistic violinists. At least the better violinists must be autistic.

The violin arrived. It is really the best that I have ever owned.

Hi Pandabear,
I am glad you like your violin.
I am a professional violinist and I would only buy a violin after testing it for a few hours. Don't believe anyone who labels their merchandise as masters or soloist. Only trust your ears. A good violin starts at around $5 000 roughly speaking.

A neighbor bought a Chinese violin for her daughter on e bay. I would not call this a violin. The fingerboard was not straight and was made of plastic. The sound was hollow and dead.

Well, I certainly don't have $5,000 to spend. I know that there are still quite a lot of very-low quality instruments coming out of Chinese factories. I don't know if they are still making Larks, but those were really low quality, cheapies 10 years ago.

The are a number of EBay sellers in China who have a decent reputation--such as Melody with Strings, and Old Violin House. At least other violin-centered internet sites have spoken kindly about them.

I just bought my daughter a 1/2-size violin from China. I spent $197 (including very fast shipping). Her teacher said that the violin had a lot volume for a violin of this size. I had previously bought three different European-made used violins through EBay, and they will be recirculated through EBay. The new Chinese one is infinitely better. I think that their company is called the Charming Song Violin Company (or something like that).

Maybe some time I should find a violin shop, to see what a $5,000 violin is supposed to be sound like.

How long have you been playing the violin? I recall wanting to play but instruments were too expensive, loud... so I never got a chance.

I started when I was in the second grade.

When I was in college, I started playing bluegrass/folk fiddle.

I don't really play much now--I'm focusing mainly on helping my daughter to learn.

Some of those Chinese makers are coming up with quite innovative and unique designs for violins. Some of them are making copies of baroque instruments for their reportoire. Since I've, well, had a habit of collecting things in the past (stamps, baseball cards, etc.), I'm in danger of starting a Chinese violin collection, if I had the money. I've become obsessed with following their auctions.